Barr and Gipe Earn VaSID All-State Honors

Liberty field hockey freshmen Natalie Barr and Sarah Gipe were named to Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) first and second all-state teams, respectively. Barr becomes the first Lady Flame in program history to earn first team all-state honors, while Gipe is the second ever Liberty player to be tabbed to the second team, joining Helen Doolittle from a year ago.

This marks the fourth postseason honor for Barr in 2012. On Oct. 31, Barr was named the NorPac East Offensive Player of the Year and was also tabbed a member of the NorPac All-Conference squad. She also earned a spot on the Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-South Region second team.

Arriving on the Liberty campus after the start of the season, the Northern Ireland native earned her first start on Sept. 8 against Penn. Barr made an immediate impact for the Lady Flames, scoring two goals on seven shots and adding an assist versus the Quakers.

The freshman's top game came on Oct. 19 against fellow NorPac program Appalachian State. Barr tallied a single-game program record four goals and nine points as Liberty rolled to an 8-1 victory.

On the final day of the regular season, Barr helped the Lady Flames knock off Davidson, 3-2, to claim their first NorPac East regular-season title. Barr notched a pair of goals, including the game-winner with just over a minute remaining in regulation.

Barr finished the season with a team-best 16 goals, eight assists, 40 points, 100 shots and four defensive saves.

Barr concluded the year ranked second in the NorPac in points, points per game (2.00), shots per game (5.00) and tied for second in assists. She ranked third in the conference in shots, goals, goals per game (0.80) and tied for third in assists per game (0.40).

Nationally, Barr led all Division I freshmen in points per game and finished tied for 18th among all players. She also finished tied for 18th overall in goals per game. The freshman's four defensive saves placed her in a tie for 13th in the country.

Gipe's all-state award is the second post-season award for the forward. She was tabbed the NorPac's Maria Whitehead Rookie of the Year at the conference's annual banquet on Oct. 31.

Gipe played in all 22 games this season, including 21 starts. The freshman cracked the starting lineup in the team's second game on Aug. 26 against Lehigh and stayed there for the remainder of the season.

In her second career start, Gipe notched a pair of goals against Georgetown to become only the third player in program history to record a multi-goal game.

Gipe's best week of the season came between Sept. 18 and Sept. 23, when the Pennsylvania native notched four goals in three games, including two goals in a win over La Salle. The Lady Flames went 2-1 during that stretch and Gipe was tabbed as the NorPac East Division Offensive Player of the Week for her efforts.

On Sept. 29, Gipe found the back of the cage two more times for her third two-goal game of the season.

Gipe concluded the season ranked second on the team with 28 points and 13 goals. The Pennsylvania native also added four game-winning goals, which tied her with Barr for the most on the squad.

Gipe ranked fourth in the NorPac in goals and goals per game (0.59). She also finished in the top ten in points, points per game (1.27), shots (44) and shots per game (2.00).